The Top 20 Most Common Uncommon Medical Diagnoses

CrowdMed helps diagnose difficult and uncommon medical cases.

Numerous studies indicate many patients may struggle for months, or longer, before receiving an accurate diagnosis – if they receive any diagnosis at all. Today, for example, it can take four months to diagnose a range of even common cancers [1], up to eight years to diagnose rare genetic disorders [2], and there are nearly seven million people in the U.S. alone suffering numerous issues related to undiagnosed diabetes [3].

The 20 medical conditions ranked at the top of our list of most frequently proposed diagnoses often require months, possibly years, to accurately identify even under the best circumstances.

CrowdMed, by the way, provided many of these diagnostic recommendations in less than two weeks – and with 78% of those diagnoses ultimately confirmed by the patients’ doctors.

Patients are frustrated with their current healthcare.

People wouldn’t need to use CrowdMed if their conditions were simple or easy to diagnose. Our customers are those who are suffering from their often debilitating symptoms and the seeming inability of their doctors or the healthcare system to help them. CrowdMed was conceived and created specifically to help those people who are frustrated and exhausted from countless months or years (and the expense of) trying to get answers, to no avail.

It is difficult, and highly unlikely, for any one doctor to know every possible condition associated with every set of symptoms they are presented by patients. Compounding the problem, if the primary care physician can’t immediately identify a condition, it’s also difficult to decide what to do next. As a result, patients find themselves being funneled through a series of tests and specialist consultations with no specific target or hypothesis other than the original doctor’s best guess. Meanwhile, these patients’ healthcare costs quickly escalate (which is another problem I’ve discussed here).

Here are the top 20 most common uncommon (and/or difficult to diagnose) medical conditions crowdsourced diagnosis is helping to identify more quickly, according to CrowdMed research:

Fibromyalgia

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Lyme Disease

Multiple Sclerosis

Lupus

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Hypothyroidism

Osteoarthritis

Menopause

Type 2 Diabetes

Cervical Radiculopathy

Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Celiac Disease

Diabetic Neuropathy

Sciatica

Acrodermatitis Enteropathica

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Arthritis

Gastric Cancer

Deep Vein Thrombosis

Doctors often doubt or criticize patients suffering from unfamiliar conditions.

One of the conditions starting to get more attention today is Celiac Disease, a gluten intolerance often caused by a genetic disorder that can prevent your intestine from absorbing important nutrients – which may also lead to a number of other, even more serious disorders. It is estimated between two and three million Americans have Celiac Disease, but that more than 80% of these people are either undiagnosed or have been misdiagnosed with other conditions [4].

Gluten intolerance has been a subject of concern and study since the 1950s. In spite of this, many in the medical community still remain unaware of gluten issues or still don’t believe the condition is real – even though researchers have already identified (and can test for) specific gene mutations found in 95% of known cases.

The general lack of awareness around this condition (and many others) causes people to suffer for years, possibly even decades, searching for answers – only to be told by many doctors they’ve just got a bit of indigestion or that they’re just imagining the symptoms.

Celiac Disease, it turns out, is fairly high on the list of medical conditions most frequently recommended by CrowdMed’s Medical Detectives to patients – ranked thirteenth overall.

Crowdsourced medical diagnosis can cure an ailing healthcare system.

Many of the conditions noted above are frequently discussed in online health related forums, and most of the discussion centers around patients’ frustration – not just because of the illness itself, but because many patients had to fight for months or years just to get a proper diagnosis.

CrowdMed helps people with rare or difficult-to-diagnose illnesses to receive virtual “second opinions” and diagnostic suggestions from a global, collaborative crowd of experts and people who devote whatever time is necessary to researching each case. Many of CrowdMed’s patients and customers had been suffering for years – not just from their medical symptoms, but also from the seemingly endless and disconnected series of diagnosis attempts by many individual doctors who never worked together to solve the problem.

CrowdMed hopes to fill this void in healthcare today, by bringing together a world of experts to diagnose even the most difficult medical cases.

If you’re frustrated with your current healthcare and symptoms (and the time and cost of trying to figure out what’s wrong), just submit your case to CrowdMed’s Medical Detectives. They’ll do their best to help you get answers.

Also, if you’re interested in helping solve cases like the ones we’ve described above, and have a background in medicine, education, healthcare, and/or research, you’re invited to join the crowd! CrowdMed’s Medical Detectives contribute to the social good while helping to save lives, through a process that is both fun and rewarding.

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The CrowdMed Blog

CrowdMed harnesses the wisdom of crowds to help people struggling with unresolved medical issues. On the blog you'll find stories from our community, from patients and medical experts who have seen the best and the worst of modern medicine, and who strive to empower people dealing with the healthcare system.